Search This Blog

Kale and Collard Green Soup with Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

I am constantly on the lookout for recipes. I stock my refrigerator with “clean” foods with the intention of making great food. Sometimes it happens other times it doesn’t..and I have been known to let some food go bad. I realize that when I make my shopping list I need to have specific meals to make. Since it finally feels like fall I decided to make another soup. I looked in the ‘fridge and saw that I had collard greens and kale that needed to be cooked immediately or tossed. So I made a kale and collard green soup based on the recipe below.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, until just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add sliced garlic, thyme and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Increase heat to high and add broth, tomatoes and their juice. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in collard greens (or kale), reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig. Stir in black-eyed peas; remove from the heat and cover.Original Recipe from Eating Well

In my usual fashion, I used the recipe as a guide and did my own thing. I used 5 or 6 sprigs of thyme, used crushed tomatoes, and instead of just collards used a combination. I also left out the celery because I didn’t have any on hand and I used garbanzo beans instead of black eyed peas. I am extremely happy with the result. Next time I will add more vegetable broth because the soup needs more liquid, unlike collards, kale doesn’t cook down so the soup was more bulky than soupy. To accompany the soup I made corn muffins utilizing a recipe from Jules Gluten Free flour.

I just purchased enough Jules Gluten free flour to last me forever so I wanted to start using it. I subscribe to her email and in yesterday’s issue she posted a recipe for pumpkin corn bread (or muffins). When I went to my pantry I was all out of pumpkin but I did have some organic winter squash baby food that was still good. Ever the adventurous cook I utilized it in the recipe. I also substituted a banana for an egg. I also made my own pumpkin spice with fresh cinnamon from the farmers market. The muffins were delicious. Mine were on the sweet side so the next time I make them I will cut back on the sugar, especially if I decide to use a ripe banana.

Mix the liquid ingredients and pumpkin until combined. Whisk in the dry ingredients until the lumps are removed. Expect the batter to be a bit thin, but not watery.

Pour the batter into an oiled 8 x 8 baking pan or into oiled or lined muffin pans. Bake for 30 minutes for the cornbread, 20 minutes for regular corn muffins, or 12-15 minutes for mini-muffins. Insert a cake tester into the center of the bread to test for doneness; they should be lightly browned around the edges and firm to the touch in the centers.